A pair of tiny dance shoes in a glass frame hangs on the wall of My Dance Bag, a Cherry Hill shop that caters to a population on the move in South Jersey.

The store, on Township Lane off Route 70, carries a wide variety of dance-related items, leotards and tights, tap shoes and tutus.

The little shoes on the wall were worn by township native and former dancer Karen Giorgio when she was 2½. They helped lead her to a lifelong love affair with dance.

“It’s been awesome, just so much fun,” says the entrepreneur and mother of a 3-year-old tiny dancer.

“I may not be dancing much anymore, but I’m still around dance with the store.”

Giorgio’s early aspirations hip-hopped between professional dancing or nursing. Finding it too hard to do both, she compromised and earned an emergency medical technician certificate.

She opened My Dance Bag in 2003 and has seen a steady increase in business over the years. She employs three to four staffers, depending on the season; her busiest time of the year is after Labor Day.

Dancer, EMT and now business owner. How did that happen?

When I was a girl, I remember my dad had to take me over to Philly for dance shoes and other things. There were no dance stores around here. Then when I was 16, I started taking dance classes in New York City at the Broadway Dance Center.

There was a dance store nearby up there that was awesome. All the lights, the dresses, the shoes. I guess that was my initial thought about opening a store.

The Broadway Dance Center is pretty prestigious. What was it like taking classes there?

Great, absolutely great! I got invited to do workshops and classes with some really big names like Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

I would take classes up there on the weekends, or when I had off from school. Somebody would drop me at the bus station in Mount Laurel, and when I got to New York, it was just a short walk to the center.

What’s it like running your own business?

It’s definitely been a learning process along the way. Fortunately, I had two sales reps — one for shoes, one for apparel — who were phenomenal in helping me get off the ground. They gave me the pathways to follow.

The toughest part has been the ordering process. When to order and how much. What styles and fashions are the best to keep in stock. But over time we’ve gotten a lot better with that.

Do you advertise?

Not really. We utilize social media, and we use our email list to contact customers. I’ll also go out to the dance schools in the area and offer them coupons.

You participated in last year’s Small Business Saturday after Thanksgiving. How did that go?

That was a huge day for us. I think we had about 80 people in here. It was a bit overwhelming, but it was great.

Small Business Saturday is nicely advertised, and the word has really gotten out there. A lot of people appreciate the small-business idea.

How’s business these days?

We’re doing pretty well. For a while it was pretty interesting, and we were just getting by. My husband (former Cherry Hill Fire Chief Bob Giorgio, whom she married in 2008) is my biggest supporter, though, and he always has more and more ideas about what we can do.

Dance has gotten huge. As long as there are girls around who want to dance, we should be fine. A lot more boys are also getting into dance, so we’ve changed what we carry. The unisex shoes are very popular.

This is my home away from home. I love doing this, meeting first-time dancers with their little feet.

I get such a thrill out of that.

Reach Joe Cooney at (856) 317-7830 or jcooney@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @cp_JoeCooney.